The Art of Network Engineering

Andy Lapteff sits down in person with Tom Hollingsworth ahead of Networking Field Day 40 for a wide-ranging conversation about Tech Field Day, what makes a great delegate, how great technical conversations happen, and why curiosity remains one of the most important traits in networking.
Tom shares the “secret sauce” behind Field Day: strong content, the right audience, and logistics that make the experience valuable for both vendors and delegates. Andy and Tom also discuss AI in networking, the difference between AI for infrastructure and infrastructure for AI, how new voices get discovered in the tech community, and why putting yourself out there can change the trajectory of your career.
If you want to grow your presence in the networking industry or learn how to ask better technical questions, this episode is for you.
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In this episode, we break down why traditional job applications are failing and how networking communities like USNUA are becoming the fastest path to career growth in IT.
You’ll learn:
 Why applying online isn’t working 
 How real opportunities come from real conversations 
 Why community matters more than certifications 
You don’t get hired through applications. You get hired through people.
If you want to grow your career, this is the shift you need to make.
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For years, network engineers were told the same thing:
“Learn Python… or fall behind.”
But what if that’s no longer true?
In this episode, we walk through a real Hello World for AI in networking: connecting an AI agent to NetBox using Model Context Protocol (MCP) and querying network data in natural language.
No scripts.
No Python expertise.
Just results.
This is a live, unfiltered build, from cloning a repo to debugging JSON to finally asking:
“How many sites do I have in New York?”
…and getting an answer instantly.
What You’ll Learn:
 Why Python is no longer the entry point to network automation 
 What MCP is and how it connects AI to your network 
 How to query NetBox using natural language 
 How AI handles tasks that used to require scripts 
 Where human-in-the-loop still matters 
Why This Matters:
Most network engineers haven’t started automation, not because they don’t want to, but because the barrier felt too high.
AI just lowered it.
This episode shows you exactly where to start.
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What does a network engineer actually make in 2025–2026? How do you ask for a raise without making it weird? And what's the single biggest thing holding your career back? We recorded this one live.
This episode comes straight from the US Networking User Association PA Network User Group 2026 Spring Career Day — a standing-room-only event organized by USNUA in the Philadelphia area. Five talks. Five perspectives. All of it relevant to where you are right now in your career.
Drew Conroy Murray from Packet Pushers kicks things off with highlights from their global salary survey — 418 respondents across 33 countries, with some genuinely surprising numbers around certifications, tools, and geographic salary gaps. Pat follows with a straightforward breakdown of how to build your case, time your ask, and walk out of a raise conversation with something — even if the answer is no.
David takes it from there with a hard truth most engineers don't want to hear: being good at your job is the floor, not the ceiling. Visibility, advocacy, and knowing who has influence over your next move matters more than you think. Danny brings the career path conversation — why management isn't the only way up, why passion matters more than a title, and why finding your people changes everything.
Andy closes with a personal story about unemployment, cognitive bias, and what it actually took to unlearn a decade of being anti-automation. Fair warning: it gets real.
This is the kind of conversation that usually stays in the room. We're glad we got to record it.
Topics covered: salary benchmarks, asking for a raise, promotion strategy, career pathing, network automation, cognitive bias, personal brand, soft skills
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What if the biggest problem in networking is that we’re solving the wrong one?
In this episode of The Art of Network Engineering, Andy and Lexie sit down with Radia Perlman, one of the most influential figures in networking history and the inventor of Spanning Tree Protocol.
This conversation goes far beyond protocols and configurations. Radia shares how networking evolved, through constraints, tradeoffs, and human decisions, and why so much of what we learn today is incomplete without understanding the problems those technologies were trying to solve.
You’ll hear:
 Why Ethernet was never designed to be used the way we use it today 
 How Spanning Tree came to be, and why it wasn’t meant to be permanent 
 The blurred lines between Layer 2 and Layer 3 
 The real reason BGP exists (and its limitations) 
 Why engineers often jump into solutions before understanding the problem 
 What people get wrong about quantum computing and AI 
This is one of those conversations that doesn’t just teach you what networking is, it changes how you think about it.
About AONE
The Art of Network Engineering explores the human side of IT—real stories, real lessons, and practical insights from people shaping the industry.
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This episode has been sponsored by Meter.
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Support the show
Find everything AONE right here: https://linktr.ee/artofneteng